


Wandering the Stars

by WaffleBee



Category: RWBY
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-13
Updated: 2019-05-25
Packaged: 2020-03-02 18:26:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,751
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18816532
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WaffleBee/pseuds/WaffleBee
Summary: Four huntresses, a single ship, and a whole lot of grimm. What is the worst that could happen on a journey through the galaxy?





	1. A red ship and a red mechanic

Ruby awoke to high pitched blaring coming from the ship's speakers. And a quick glance at her alarm told her it was still to early to leave the bed. So she did the only logical thing. She rolled over, pulled the duvet over her head, and tried to go back to sleep. But it was futile struggle; whoever had designed the alarm had done a good job, and the sound penetrated the layers of down with frightening ease.

She tried to ignore it, she really did, but soon she had to surrender to the alarm. She threw off the duvet and lay on her back. She stared at the ceiling and from below she could feel the deep hum of the ship's engine, like giant beast snoring in its sleep. She considered getting out of bed, but decided to count the rivets in the ceiling first. The small bits of metal were barely visible in the soft red light signifying night time, and she had to drag her fingers across the metallic surface and count them by touch. There were twenty-four rivets, or there had been last time she counted them, luckily, there still were. 

When she had made sure the ship was not falling apart beneath her feet she stood up, careful not to hit her head on the low ceiling of the alcove. She shivered as her feet hit the cold metal floor and she quickly scurried over to the ragged carpet covering part of her tiny room. Besides her bed there was a small desk, a chair, the carpet which had once been red, and a dresser built into the opposite wall. A small round window displayed the ever-changing colors of hyperspace, energies whirled like water as they splashed around the ship.

She picked up her scroll from where she had thrown it the previous evening and tried to figure out why the alarm was going off.

**_[UNDEFINED ERROR]_ **

"What do you mean undefined error," she muttered as she thumbed through the scroll, "how can an error be undefined?" But the scroll refused to reveal its secrets, and the alarm was really getting on her nerves. 

Fine you win, I'll figure it out, she thought, and jumped into the pair of black boots thrown haphazardly just inside the door. She stuffed the laces into the boots and pressed the button to open the door. It hissed as it slid to the side and Ruby stuck her head out into the short corridor. The alarm was going off there to, echoing up and down the ship in a cacophony that could drive a monk mad.

She gritted her teeth against the noise and stepped out into the corridor; the door sliding shut behind her with another hiss. She took the small step across the corridor and banged on the door opposite her own.

"Yang, are you up?" she called out through the metal, but received nothing but silence in response. She knew her sister was a heavy sleeper, but this was almost a bit suspicious. Or so she thought, until she remembered that Yang slept with earplugs.

"Dammit Yang," she muttered, "that's just not safe when you live in a rust-bucket."

Since she wouldn't get any help from Yang (hacking the lock would take at least fifteen minutes) she set off towards the bridge on her own. And about ten seconds later she arrived. Or rather, she was outside the door to the bridge, the big red warning sign on the door control made her reconsider entering.

**_[WARNING - UNDEFINED ERROR]_ **

Again with the helpful error messages. Well, what's the worst that could happen? she thought, her finger hovering over the panel. Except for being sucked into the vacuum of space, choked by deadly gases, and cooked by radiation. She slowly pulled back her hand, and bit her lip as she considered the situation.

There was an unknown problem with their ship, they were still in hyperspace, and she was pretty sure they had never gotten around to repairing the space suits after a particularly angry Grimm had ripped holes in them. Is this how we die? She stared blankly ahead for a moment as the thought bounced around her head like an old screensaver, before she shook her head. The engine was still running wasn't it? So it couldn't be that bad. She quickly did a vote for if she should open the door or not. One vote for, zero against, and one abstaining.

"Here goes nothing," she mumbled and pressed her finger to the door control panel, she jumped back as the door slid open with a hiss. The cramped bridge looked... normal. And since she didn't get sucked out into space through a hull breach or choked on deadly gases, she took a step forward. Of course, she wouldn't know if she was being bombarded by radiation for another few minutes, but that was part of the charm of budget space travel.

She sighed and sat down in one of the two chairs. The alarm was still going off and a couple of red lights were blinking, but all essential systems seemed to be fine. With a few quick button presses she activated the alarm override and with one last horrid beep the alarm turned off, and she was treated with silence, sweet sweet silence. Leaning back she took a deep breath and enjoyed the quiet for a moment, and then the alarm blared again. As if challenging her to try to turn it off again.

She groaned and let her head fall into her hands, allowing herself a moment of self pity before she tried to actually fix whatever the problem was. Self pitying finished, she looked up and steeled herself, "you can do this, Ruby," she told herself, and opened the diagnostic tool on the bridge's terminal. 

It proved to be slightly more helpful than her scroll, but only slightly. The ancient software coupled with the even older hardware could not diagnose the problem, only localize it to a forgotten corner of the engine room. With another groan she transferred the location to her scroll and left the bridge, stomping extra hard as she passed the sleeping quarters.

The engine room was located at the rear of the ship. It was cramped, hot, and smelly. A place you stayed away from unless you had no other choice but to go there. And since Ruby would rather keep her ears, she had no other choice, but to go there. Following the map on her scroll she soon found herself crawling through a dark and rusty tunnel, dust-collider generating enough energy to push them through hyperspace humming on one side, bulkheads on the other, and more dirt and grime than she would have liked to see in a lifetime, let alone the ten minutes she had spent there. At least the alarm was almost inaudible, a small comfort.

"Please don't be a problem with the dust-collider," she whispered to herself as she closed in on the marked area, repeating the phrase in the vain hope that saying it might make it true. She didn't have the resources or technical expertise to repair one of the most complicated and volatile systems in the known galaxy, and especially not whilst it was running.

Her chanting did not help.

There was a crack in the dust-collider. How they were still alive, let alone flying through hyperspace was a mystery, one she would rather not solve. Ruby cursed quietly under her breath, and then counted her lucky stars that Yang wasn't there, or she would never have heard the end of it.

Using the flashlight on her scroll to got a good look at the crack she concluded that, luckily, it was only the outer hull of the machine that had been ruptured. And after a few quick scans that showed nothing wrong with the sensitive systems inside, she crawled back out of the tunnel. They might not be in any immediate danger of being turned into a fine mist, or be stranded in the middle of interstellar space, but Ruby was in immediate danger of ripping her ears off. The alarm was still going and fixing the crack would, she hoped, silence it.

She took a moment to find the correct tools, a task not helped by the speaker placed right next to the cabinets. It screamed at her with a fervor only matched by football fans and religious fanatics, and not even whacking it with a hammer could silence it. So with the tools at hand she retreated back into the tunnel and away from the noise. There, in the dark, she could relish in the simple hum of a dust-powered disaster waiting to happen. 

She had to crawl, clamber and scramble to get back to the crack with all the tools she needed. All whilst her pajamas kept snagging on bits of metal, the discolored fabric ripping in awkward places. She grumbled as she reached the crack and took a short break, leaning against the ship's hull as she stared at the crack in the dim light. It seemed so innocent, insignificant, but it worried her. Cracks do not just happen without a reason. Granted, the reason could be ancient materials and thermal expansion. But from her experience, it was never that simple.

With a sigh, she picked up her scroll and turned on the flashlight. She placed it precariously on the edge of a bulkhead securing the dust-collider. With the added light she looked through the tools she had dragged with her, and with trepidation she began the repairs. 

It was a slow process, on account of not wanting to blow up, not helped by the old and rusting metal. But when she was finished, she couldn't even see where the crack had been. She put her hand on the collider, the rough metal was warm on her skin, and she could feel it vibrate, like a satisfied kitten. With a smile and a pat on her own back for a job well done she crawled out of the tunnel, and to her delight found that the alarm had fallen silent. 

She breathed out and threw the tools towards the cabinet, ignoring the clattering as she left the engine room. She'd sort that out later, when she wasn't stinking of sweat and oil, and wasn't covered in layers of filth. She pulled at the hem of her tank top and tried her best to not look at her pants, once they had been white and pink, but now they looked more like two tree trunks.

"Morning!"

The greeting pulled Ruby out of her musings and she looked up to find Yang sitting at the table in their living room and kitchen combo.

"You look like hell," Yang observed, she was sitting with her scroll, no doubt reading whatever news made it out to this corner of the galaxy.

"No thanks to you," Ruby snapped, she was not in the mood for any amount of Yang right now. She needed a shower, or maybe two showers, and a new set of clothes.

Yang put down her scroll at the irate reply. "Well, aren't you stingy," she said, "what happened?"

Ruby narrowed her eyes. "There was a crack in the dust-collider, and the alarm has been going off the entire morning; did you really not hear it?"

"It was silent when I got out of bed," Yang said with a shrug. "Wait, did you say there was a crack in the dust-collider?"

"Yeah, it was only the exterior, and the internals seemed fine," Ruby said and ran a hand through her greasy hair, "but..." 

"We'll need to find port soon," Yang finished for her.

"Yeah, I don't want to be flying if there is a risk for it to blow," Ruby confessed.

Yang stood up and stuffed her scroll into a pocket. "I'll go and see if I can find a port, but this far out in Mistral space I don't know if we'll find anything reputable."

"Anything with a workshop is fine," Ruby said, "hopefully it's nothing big, and we'll be on our way after a proper scan."

"And if it isn't?"

"Well," Ruby said and hesitated. "How much money do we have?"

"Not enough for a new ship," Yang said with a grimace.

"Then let's hope it's an easy repair," Ruby said, "otherwise we'll most likely have to hitchhike."

Yang snorted at the suggestion. "Hitchhiking through space, yeah sure," she mumbled as she disappeared towards the bridge.

"You can hitchhike through space!" Ruby called out after her and received a "yeah sure," in response. She shook her head and walked off to take a shower.


	2. A yellow pilot with a long way down

"Are you sure there are no other ports?" Ruby asked for the third time, and double checked safety harness. She was as strapped in as she was going to get, but it didn't feel like it was enough. Through the bridge's tiny windows a blue and green jewel of a planet was visible, some five-thousand kilometers below them. There was a settlement down there, with a port and the parts they needed for repairs. There was just the small problem of getting down there.

"This is the only port with the tools we need within a thousand light years," Yang said, "but I agree with you; this does not feel like a good idea."

"We could try for the next and hope the collider doesn't blow on the way," Ruby suggested, with a hint of hope, Though she knew that was a bad idea. New cracks had formed over the last four hours and she had been forced to disconnect the alarm completely or suffer permanent damage to her hearing.

"I'd rather not be turned into dust with no escape," Yang frowned, "there's at least a hope of rescue if we crash here."

"You think anyone from that pirate haven is going to attempt a rescue?" Ruby blurted and eyed her sister. Yang sat in the pilot's seat, which was exactly the same as the co-pilot's seat, except, it was on the left. She to was as strapped in as she was going to get and she sounded calm, but the way her hands clutched the joystick and throttle betrayed her nervousness.

"Maybe they are nice pirates?" Yang said, and sent what Ruby thought was supposed to be an encouraging smile, but looked more like a grimace. "Either way, this ship can do planetary landings, it has atmospheric thrusters and everything."

"It's not the landing I'm worried about," Ruby muttered. "When you bought this ship did they say anything about planetary landings?"

"He said it could do it."

"Did he say anything about atmospheric entry?"

"Nope," Yang said and emphasized the last letter with a pop.

And that was the crux of the problem, they had bought the ship from a secondhand dealer in Vale, on a space station. And from there they had only ever landed on stations and taken a shuttle down to the surface. The ship had everything needed for a planetary landing, true, but Ruby doubted it had been anywhere near an atmosphere for decades, let alone been close to the surface.

"Right," Ruby said, "we are so going to die."

"Don't be so negative," Yang said. "It's going to be fine."

"You sure of that?"

"No, but if it doesn't we don't have to worry anymore, right?"

Ruby stared at Yang for a moment. "Would you just begin the descent?" she sighed.

With a snicker, Yang pushed the throttle forward, and with a roar, the ship's thrusters fired. "All right," she said and tightened her grip on the joystick as the ship lurched beneath them, "let's do this."

Ruby was pushed back into her seat as the ship accelerated. She kept her eyes on the dials as the ship began losing orbital velocity and altitude. Slowly at first, but soon the altitude dial was spinning and the hull temperature was shooting up. The bridge's windows were quickly covered in orange flames as they entered the upper atmosphere.

"The ride is about to become a lot bumpier," Yang announced, and moments later the ship began shaking. They were still far above the clouds plotting the sky, but they were approaching quickly.

"Firing forward thrusters," Yang said, they had killed their orbital velocity and was now in a free fall. As their ship was not what one would call, aerodynamic, they relied on thrusters to control their entry and landing. With another roar, the thrusters fired, and the ship shuddered as they fought against gravity.

But they kept losing altitude at an excessive rate and Ruby felt like she was being squished into a two-dimensional version of herself. "Y-Yang, you s-should probably slow d-down a bit," Ruby stammered out through rattling teeth.

"I'm t-trying," Yang said as she strained against the joystick. "T-the forward t-thrusters are n-not working p-properly."

Ruby could see what she meant, the forward thrusters were only working at seventy-percent efficiency. With the altitude dial in free fall and the speed dial having turned around and started climbing again they really needed those thrusters. And with the atmosphere thickening, both the noise and the vibrations were picking up.

She pulled out the bridge's console, her knuckles went white as she held on to the unwieldy screen, and began digging through the menu's. Luckily someone had the foresight of implementing a quick-find function and she was soon on the right page, where blinking red lights told her what she needed-, but really didn't want to know.

"We a-are running o-out of power," she called out, "I'll t-try to re-reroute from o-other systems." With some swipes and a few clicks, she turned off less important systems, like life-support, onboard gravity, and oxygen recycling, and transferred the power to the engines. The effect was immediate, the vibrations increased, but the speed also decreased. Ruby saw that as a win and managed to not bite her tongue, a quiet expletive from her left told her Yang had bitten hers.

But at least they had a semblance of control at the moment, and Ruby could breath out. The speed had decreased enough to where the windows were no longer covered by flames and Ruby could admire the view. 

The planet was truly a bit of a paradise, with emerald green trees and fields stretching as far as she could see. Then with a lurch, the ship turned as Yang pointed them towards the settlement, and Ruby's view changed. The green was replaced with blue, an endless ocean glimmering in the sunlight, small and fluffy clouds floating on about the same height as them. An observation she made right as they were plunged into temporary blindness as they fell through a cloud. 

It was only for a moment, and she could soon see the ocean again, and there where the settlement, she realized. On the beach, still far in the distance, she could see buildings littered across the ground, with roads going out into the fields and forests surrounding it. And with that, the ship gave one last shudder and the altitude dial stopped moving, more or less.

Yang released her grip on the controls and breath out a sigh of relief. "We made it," she sighed and leaned back.

"We haven't parked yet," Ruby reminded her and as on command, the ship dropped a few meters, sending their stomachs up into their throats.

"Right," Yang mumbled, "let's park. Would you ask for a parking space?"

"Sure," Ruby said and picked up the radio. Like the ship it was an old and beaten thing, luckily, it worked, most of the time. The radio turned on without any fuss and she dialed the standard landing control number. There was one beep, two beeps, and a connection.

"Welcome to Brunswick settlement," a slightly robotic feminine voice said, "how can I help you today?"

"Hello," Ruby replied in her cheery voice, "this is the Red Rocket, requesting permission to land."

"Certainly," the robotic voice answered, "just one moment please."

The radio went silent as they waited for the computer to figure out if they could land. They were close enough to see the landing pads now, two metal platforms and four marked gravel lots. Not much of an airfield, but then again, this was a settlement in the middle of nowhere. Three of the lots and one platform were already in use. The lots were occupied by two ships that could rival their own in terms of being way past their best by date, and one cargo hauler that probably belonged to some traveling merchant. But it was the ship parked on the platform that really caught their attention.

"Holy," Yang exclaimed. "Ruby look at that ship."

"Which one?" Ruby asked and looked up from the console, she had been trying to turn the life-support back on, but it seemed like the system was down for good.

"The big white one, of course," Yang said and let go of the joystick to point, which made the ship take a hard right. She had to fight with the controls for a moment to regain an acceptable flight path.

It was hard to miss when you weren't looking down towards a screen. It's pristine white hull glinted in the sunlight as it sat parked upon a platform, like a royal swan amongst muddy turtles, and one fat gray pig. Its form was sleek and elegant, at least a hundred meters long it dwarfed the two other ships, and was not much smaller than the hauler. Its main fuselage was wide and decorated with elegant flowing lines. At its back, two wings extended out from the main body in a graceful curve and ended in two nacelles.

"Oh. My. God!" Ruby exclaimed and turned Yang, "do you know what kind of ship that is!?"

"No," Yang admitted, "but it looks fancy."

"It's the latest SDC design! It's one of the most prestigious ships money can buy," Ruby explained, almost bursting with excitement as she quickly dug her scroll out of her pocket. It didn't take her long to find what she was looking for, and she held up a picture of the ship for Yang to see. 

"It's the SDC Clipper," Ruby squealed "it was released less than a year ago and is one of their most luxurious and versatile ships ever. It's incredible—"

She was interrupted when the radio crackled back to life with a mechanical cough.

"Thank you for your patience," the robotic voice said. "You have permission to land on pad five, please fly safe."

"Thank you!" Ruby fired off before the radio disconnected. "We can land on pad five," she then told Yang, as if she hadn't heard it and already begun steering towards the vacant gravel.

"Yeah, I heard," Yang replied. "What do you think a ship like that is doing out here anyway? Shouldn't it be like, flying diplomatic missions between the capital worlds or something."

"No clue. But I've heard that it can be flown by a single person, so maybe the owner got bored and took a detour?"

"One hell of a detour then," Yang mused. "Either way, we are in good company in its shadow."

And with those words Yang, came into land. With a steady hand a bit of luck she managed a soft landing on the gravel. The thrusters spluttered to a stop and the ship went completely silent for the first time in weeks. With the dust-collider turned off they both breathed a sigh of relief and unstrapped themselves from their seats. On their way out of the ship Ruby picked up Crescent Rose and Yang threw on Ember Celica, you couldn't be too safe on a fringe world like this.

When they were ready Ruby typed in the code and the airlock opened, it let in the fresh air and the salty smell of the ocean. After weeks of recycled air it was a refreshing change, since no matter how many times she cleaned or replaced the filter, the air on the ship had a weird smell to it.

Ruby took a deep breath, savoring its freshness before she climbed down the few meters to the ground. She did wish they had a gangway for situations like this, but a ladder was all the ship could do. Safely on the ground, she brushed of the bits of red paint that had gotten stuck to her clothes on the way down. She was quickly joined by Yang, who preferred to jump down. She hit the gravel hard and Ruby could feel the vibrations travel up her legs. She caught a quick glimpse of red in Yang's eyes as her semblance absorbed the impact, but then Yang blinked and it was gone.

"What do you think of this place?" Yang asked.

"It's nice," Ruby said and used a hand to protect her eyes from the sun. She had missed the pleasant warmth a sun gave, but she had not missed being blinded by it. One of the nice things about being indoors was not being constantly blinded. "The air doesn't smell like old socks and I'm sure the water is not recycled."

"No complaints about the sun?" Yang snickered, well aware of Ruby's aversion to sunlight. And since she was the cool older sister, she put on her aviators. Ruby stuck out her tongue at Yang. She didn't have any aviators, she had intended to buy a pair, many times actually. But she always got sidetracked by some new piece of tech for her weapon, or the ship.

"Do you think they can repair the ship?" Yang asked and pulled Ruby out of her musings on the nature of sunglasses.

"Well, they have a port. They've got to have a shipyard or an outfitter..." Ruby tapered off as she looked around at the grass, and trees, and gravel paths, "maybe a workshop?"

"Ever the optimist," Yang laughed. "Let's start at the port office and go from there."

Ruby followed as Yang set off towards the only building in the vicinity. It was large, square, and gray, an impeccable piece of architecture found in hastily constructed settlements all around the galaxy. Their path took them past the two raised platforms who occupied opposite sides of the road. As they walked past the Ruby saw a name written on the side of the Clipper.

"The Winter Star," she read. "Pretty good, but not as good as The Red Rocket."

Yang snorted, but didn't add any commentary of her own.

The building had two doors and one gate, one of the doors had Port Office written in large bold letters above it. They looked at each other and shrugged. 

A bell rang when they walked through the doors. The inside a bit more decorated than the outside. Granted, the walls were still gray and the room was perfectly square, but there was a plant in one corner and someone had tried to decorate the walls with posters, though they had clearly given up halfway through. The furniture was a desk, a computer on said desk, a filing cabinet, and a chair. The chair was currently occupied by an elderly man who seemed to be half asleep. He did look up when they entered though, and Ruby worried that they might have woken him from his midday nap.

"Hello!" Yang greeted him cheerily. "We'd like to check in."

"Ship name and owner?" he asked in a monotone voice. 

"The Red Rocket, owned by Yang Xiao Long and Ruby Rose."

The man typed the names into his computer, slowly, with his index finger, whilst wording out every letter. It took him close to five minutes to get it done, and Ruby had half a mind to walk around the desk and do it for him. Yang stood silent, she did try to initiate polite small talk, but after she interrupted him in the middle of a word and he had to start over from the beginning, twice, she gave up. 

"What can we do for you?" he droned when he was finally finished entering them into their system.

Both Ruby and Yang were jolted out of their scrolls when he addressed them. "We are looking for repairs," Yang said and quickly stuffed her scroll into a pocket. "Ruby, this is more your area of expertise."

"Right," Ruby said, her scroll was hidden behind her back as she couldn't find an empty pocket to put it in. "There is something wrong with our dust-collider, so we need tools to diagnose and repair it."

He looked thoughtful at her request and was silent for a moment before answering. "We have the tools to diagnose problems with a dust-collider, but I don't know about repairing it. And either way, it won't be cheap."

"We can pay the bill," Yang assured him, though Ruby knew they probably couldn't. At least, they couldn't if they still wanted to eat for the next month.

"I'll call in our mechanic, and he can take a look at it," he said and clicked a single button on the desk.

"So," Yang began when she noticed the clear lack of interruptible typing, and leaned on the desk, "what's the deal with the fancy ship outside?"

"It's a huntress's ship," he said shortly.

Yang and Ruby shared a surprised look. Being a huntress was not exactly the most well paying of jobs, and for one to have such a ship. Well, it must be quite a successful one.

"Really?" Yang asked, disbelief clear in her voice. "How did that happen?"

"We had a beacon out for a hunt," he explained. "We thought we were going to get a bandit gang or some pirates, maybe a washed up hunter. You know, the kind of people that usually run around these parts. So imagine our surprise when that beast of a ship swoops down and the most elegant lady I've ever laid my eyes on steps out. Thought we had a royal visit, but she just asked about the hunt and set immediately after." 

"Well, the problem must have been taken care of quickly then," Yang mused.

But he shook his head. "We had another huntress arrive a couple of days later. We hadn't had time to take in the beacon you see. We told her there was already another huntress on the job, but she insisted. However, neither has come back yet."

"And how long ago was that?" Ruby asked, she had a bad feeling about this.

"About two weeks ago," he said with a shrug. "If they don't return soon we'll have to move their ships." Then he nodded towards their weapons. "And you, are you huntresses too?" he asked.

"We are," Yang said slowly. "How about it?"

"Well, the bounty is still unclaimed, and it would be enough to cover almost any repair," he said. "If you are interested just let me know."

The sisters shared a glance. "We'll think about it," thay said in unison.


	3. A lone snowflake in the wild

Weiss Schnee shivered and shifted closer to the small fire, holding out her hands for warmth. Outside the small cave she could hear the splatter of rain upon the naked rock and the roaring of the wind as it rushed through the treetops. Underneath her, a small pool of water was collecting from her dripping clothes and hair. The once shining white ponytail hung in a wet and tangled mess down her back. She had to fight to keep her eyes open, heavy eyelids threatened to fall as soon as she let down her guard. Myrtenaster stood leaned against the wall, its polished surface glinting in the light from the flames.

Weiss sighed, this was not at all what she had imagined when set out to be a huntress. Though, what had she imagined? She was not sure anymore. She had just been tired of the duties, the aristocrats, the constant scheduling of her life and her complete lack of freedom. It had been a foolish decision to take her ship and her rapier and run away, naïve of her to expect it to go her way. She knew that. But what else could she have done? She had to escape, she could not live another day in that silver cage, or at the whim of her father.

She had loaded her ship, The Winter Star, in secret. Then, in the dead of night, she had left Atlas. She had turned off the ships tracker, and by the time someone questioned her absence, she was long gone. She had laid low for a few weeks, only using a small shuttle when going down to settlements or docking at stations as to not attract attention. It had not been easy, one of the problems with being the famous heiress to the Schnee Dust Company was that everyone and their mother had, if nothing else, heard of you. 

But it was a big galaxy, and she had persevered. She had stayed hidden and out of the way for long enough where news stories of her disappearance had dried up. There are only so many times you can say, there are no new leads on the SDC heiress, after all. Of course, she did feel a little bad over running away. Not everyone she knew was her father, and she had thought about sending a message to Winter. But in the end, she had decided against it. She could not be sure only Winter would read such a message, and she did not know how secure the channels really were.

Then when it seemed like she had gotten away, she had put her plan into action. She had taken a small kill quest on a remote world in Vacuo. An Ursa had grown too big for its bridges and had become a threat to the local community. It had been her first hunt since leaving the academy. Her father had never allowed her to actually use what she had been taught. It had felt good, the thrill of living on a knife's edge, with only your skill and knowledge keeping you alive. It was addictive. And soon she had found herself on another world, taking another hunt. A group of Beowolf that time. And then another, and another. 

It did not take long before she had made a name for herself. Not as the heiress to Schnee Dust Company, but as a hunter on the fringes of colonized space. A hero of the people. That was also addicting, in its own way. To be seen, not for what she was born into, but for what she made for herself. It was something she had never had before, and now she was not sure if she could live without it. 

Spurred by those new feelings she had grown bold, brave. Overconfident. She had taken on more and more dangerous hunts. Which at last brought her to this godforsaken rock. Some overenthusiastic dimwitted farmer had decided to build a settlement less than half a world away from a Grimm nest. Predictably, this was about to end badly for everyone involved. She had taken the hunt against her better judgment. How could she refuse it when there were people relying on her, people that looked up and paid attention, not because of her name, but because of what she did. She could see now she had been prideful, and unbelievably full of herself. She thought she could take out an entire nest on her own. Stupid.

She had taken her small shuttle out from the settlement and left her large and easily spotted ship safely on a landing pad. She had taken some cursory scans of the Grimm nest, but she had not been able to get close enough for short-range scans, courtesy of a flock of Nevermore, and with how much interference Grimm generate she had not been able to glean much from the low-powered long-range scanners. No matter, she had thought, nothing beats old fashioned reconnaissance. She should have realized then that skies teeming with Nevermore were a warning sign she should heed. But she had ignored it and parked her shuttle amongst the trees. It had taken her a while to find a good enough spot for it, shining white was not the most inconspicuous color in a world of green and brown. She had eventually hidden it between two boulders and buried it under a bunch of bushes, making impossible to see from a distance, even when the sun stood high.

She had spent the rest of the day sneaking around the forest, on the lookout for Grimm and their nest. She had never been able to get close enough to the nest to actually see anything, packs of Beowolfs, Ursas, and the occasional Death Stalker made the nest hard to reach. This should have been another clue that maybe, just maybe, one hunter would not be enough and she should get some backup. But no, she had continued forward, avoiding fights, but not retreating as she should have. 

Eventually, she had mapped out a large enough area around the nest and gone back to the shuttle for the night. She slept in the shuttle that first night, and what she would not give for a heated seat that could lean all the way back right now, instead of this frozen cave. But alas, she had made her bed, and now she would have to sleep in it. If only the bed she made was not made of rock.

The second day was spent much like the first. She continued scouting out the nest and tried to keep hidden. Which almost worked as well, she did get spotted by a small pack of Beowolfs, and the easiest way of staying hidden was to remove any witnesses. The fight had started out as a textbook example. She had taken up a defensive position with a boulder at her back, forcing them to engage her from the front. Then she had counted the enemies, five Beowolfs, no reinforcements, easy kills. She had waited for them to make the first move, and since Beowolfs are no masters of patience, it had not taken long. The first beast leap at her from the front, whilst the others circled as best they could. She stepped out of the way of the clumsy charge and without missing a beat let Myrtenaster fall, severing its head from its body.

The other Beowolfs roared as their pack-mate dispersed on the wind, and two of them had charged. Weiss had used a glyph to skip over the two beasts, and instead went for one that had not charged. It did not have time to dodge as she was propelled forward by another glyph and it vanished around the rapier sticking out of its skull. The last three were taken out with comparable ease, the third Beowolf got sliced in two, and the two that had charged were stabbed like the second. All in all, it was an easy fight, but one she would have wanted to avoid. She avoided any other confrontations and spent that night in the shuttle.

The third day passed much like the second, though she did end up in two more small fights, another group of Beowolfs she swiftly dealt with, and one medium-sized Ursa. That one had been more of a challenge. She had tried to shake it first, never take a fight you do not have to, was a mantra she had nagged into her the first year of the academy. But it had been a very persistent Ursa, and eventually, she had to face it. She had done so with the environment in her favor, of course. She had led the Ursa to a dense portion of the forest, where the tight spaces would make the Ursa's large body and range, a downside. She had then effortlessly taken out the Ursa with a smooth combo of stabs and slashes, as it squirmed helplessly, unable to maneuver and strike her. That night too, was spent in the shuttle.

Then on the fourth day, everything went wrong. Sure, it started off just fine. She had the same rations for breakfast; she looked over the same maps, but when she went out to hunt, well, the Grimm were smarter than she had thought. They were waiting for her, and like an ant, she had walked straight into the antlion's pit, with not even a second thought.

When she reached the edge of the Grimm's territory the trap had sprung, and like an antlion's claws, the Grimm had closed around her, cutting off any escape. She had stood there in complete silence for a moment, red eyes and panting breaths all around her. Both waiting for the other to strike, her mind racing as she tried to discreetly look for a hole in lines, a weakness to exploit. But she found none. And moments later the first Beowolfs charged.

At the start, she held her ground. Myrtenaster was alive in her hand as it flowed from Grimm to Grimm, leaving clouds of black dust floating through the air. She used her glyphs to block certain paths, funneling the Grimm into her waiting arms. She killed dozen of Beowolfs, she leapt over Ursas and even killed a couple of King Taijitu. Her blood boiled with adrenaline and she felt more alive than ever before. Every move was elegant and perfectly executed, every stab, slash, and dust explosion brought down another Grimm. Not one motion was wasted, not one done without another cloud of smoke joining the heavens. But they just kept coming, and she knew that she could not go on forever, but in the moment, she felt invincible.

She was not, of course. It started small, her glyphs began breaking, one by one, like a cookie in the hands of a clumsy child, they cracked and vanished. And with them, her aura flickered out. Her shield was gone, but the onslaught of Grimm never ceased, never let up, and with less defense, she had to work harder for her offense to protect her from harm. It did not take long for her chest to ache as she struggled for breath, and her legs and arms to feel like lead. And the Grimm. Just. Kept. Coming.

She ran. She covered her escape with the last of her ice dust, and ran.

What followed was a harrowing rush as she fled through the forest, Grimm lapping at her heels. All she remembered where flashing images of trees, dark shapes, glowing red eyes, and ice cold panic gripping her heart. She could still hear the growls, cries, and snapping of wood as they crashed after her through the undergrowth. With a white knuckle grip of Myrtenaster she had raced through the dim light of the setting sun. The darkness did nothing to help her and through half the night she continued the frantic dance. At times she was only steps ahead of the horde, their rotting breath breathing down her neck, and at others, they seemed to dim into the distance, and she got a moment to rest. But they always seemed to find her and start the chase all over again.

She had finally lost them for good after wading through a deep stream. The rushing water had almost knocked her off her feet and carried her away, and when she emerged on the other side she had shivered like a leaf in the wind. They had lost her scent after that, but she had still heard their howls echoing in the distance and had been too scared to stop. She had kept going for a while, stumbling through the forest on limbs powered by nothing but adrenaline. But when the rain started pouring she had no choice but to stop and find shelter or the elements would finish what the Grimm had started. 

She could count her lucky stars that she had found the cave, someone must be looking out for her, and it certainly was not herself. The cave was a narrow slash in a wall of rock, like a scar upon the earth, and she could easily touch both walls she found her way in. The rock was smooth, millennia of rain and wind had ground away any sharp edges or protrusions. After a few meters they curved gently away from her tentative fingers and the cave widened into a space large enough for her to sit and a small fire to keep her warm. It was no five-star hotel, but at least it was dry, and safe (she hoped). She scavenged some dry wood scattered around the forest floor, hidden under bushes and trees, and lit it with a burst of fire dust. It was not much, but it would keep her warm.

Weiss sighed again, and traced the shadows dancing across the walls, this whole venture had certainly turned into quite the mess. What would she even do now? Try again tomorrow? No, she thought and shook her head, that would be too dangerous. She would have to go back to the settlement and call for backup. Though, who would she even call for backup? She did not exactly have any friends to call, and all the hunters she had studied with at the academy were probably living cushy lives in Atlas. Taking easy hunts to show off without every facing any real danger. The beacon had already been weeks old when she answered it, meaning there were not a lot of hunters around these parts. Though, she already knew that, since that was why she came here in the first place. Either way, she could not continue on her own, or she would most likely die cold and alone in the middle of this alien forest. 

"I guess this is the price I pay for hubris," she mumbled. "Dust, what should I do now?"

But the crackling fire had no answers, and she slowly drifted to sleep whilst she watched the dancing flames. I guess it will have to be tomorrow's problem, was her last thought before sleep overwhelmed her and she lay down on the hard rocks. But she did not get much rest that night, plagued as she was by silent cries and red eyes in the dark. When she woke again many hours later, she did not feel like she had gotten any sleep at all.


End file.
